The 'secret nuclear bunker' - a great family day out ...

Entrance to the 'secret nuclear bunker' ....
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

Well at least I thought it had all the makings of a wonderful day out along with Mr P&M, my brother-in-law and Mother in law ... Let's just say I judged my choice perfectly for 75% of the party the last 25% was still shivering and laughing nervously sometime later in the car.

This photo was taken before I saw the signs saying you had to have a permit to take photos! Worth going back for one I'd say now.

Personally I can't recommend it highly enough as a day out ... I'm not going to give a huge amount of detail as it's well covered already in "Bollocks to Alton Towers" and if you're into these sort of visits you probably can just read the review in the copy you already have.

The thing I mainly enjoyed about the whole experience was the home-made nature of the place (take a look at their website if you want a flavour of this). So home-made there are no 'staff' just you and an audio guide and an honesty box at the end. There seemed something wonderfully in-appropriate about the government selling off their top-secret bolt hole where 600 of them would sit out 3 months of a potential nuclear winter ... and better still selling it back to the farmer who's family had originally had to 'sell' the land to the government.

Exit from the Bunker at Kelvedon
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

The other thing I really wanted to spend more time looking at where the films that the new owner has collected together there. I've seen most of the protect and survive ones before ... but seeing them inside this bunker just made the recommendations for your average home owner seem all the more ludicrous, sinister and pathetic ("bush any fall out off of your food", "cover your bath full of water with an old door"). They also had a really interesting film I *think made to be shown in the bunker to calm people down if they were stuck in there for 3 months. Shot in the bunker it showed a sort of Hollywood meets stiff upper lip version of events where the characters (supposedly those you were now trapped underground with) pushed about little models and monitored blasts and fallout drift in an enthusiastic and purposeful way.

I guess it would be no good grumbling down there, even with the chemical loos and tinned food for 600 ... there was also a good supply of coffins although I couldn't work out in the rush to leave how they ejected those into the outside world.

Jago-wick

House opposite the pub
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

Last weekend we fancied a day out of London and decided to go to Jaywick, situated on the coast in Essex and the only small piece of the East Anglian coastline I have never been to before.

I was sort of prepared for the place as a couple of years ago I toyed with the idea of applying for a job as the arts officer there ... God knows why I have no desire to be an arts officer but I did have an odd feeling that I wanted to work in Jaywick. In the end the pay was so low (even by arts standards) that I could almost not have covered my travel costs to get there ...

ANYWAY having visited on Saturday I'm not altogether sure what an arts officer might offer the place. It does have some amazing homes, and a fascinating history but I suspect it also has a pretty amazing set of problems - as evidenced by the high standard of burnt out houses, rubbish and dog shit around - even by Hackney standards the place is undeniably a mess.

Jaywick beach
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

I've read lots of accounts of the great community spirit there, but I have to say it might be hard to find. The sheer density of cctv cameras bristling from some of the more loved seaside homes didn't point towards great community cohesion.

Oddly it made me think of the novel I'm reading at the moment about 'Old Nichol' the Jago 'slum' that once stood where East London's Boundary Estate now stands. I'm currently trying (with Mr. P&M) to make a 'song' there for the bandstand on the central circus. Through our search for musicians I get to see lots of different people there trying different versions of community spirit. They may still have a problem with dog shit on the circus but it's come a long way since 'A Child of the Jago' was written by Arthur Morrison in 1896!

Morrison's novel caused a scandal at the time and he was accused of dramatising the problems in the area. Now though it's commonly felt to be almost documentary in nature as a work.

The Jago as a place was somewhere that people could easily 'disappear' and you couldn't help but feel the same about Jaywick. I've been wondering what a novel/documentary would make of life here in 2008.

Martello tower/art center/fortress!
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

As we were leaving I saw the Martello Tower where I'd have been based if I'd got the job. I don't think I could have stuck it - it seemed more like a fortress than an 'arts centre' - isolated and windswept at the end of a caravan park where every window displayed a sign that all valuables had been removed. Not really the right spot to really get to know Jaywick from.